Happy New Year from the land of the rising sun. Hope to learn more about the path with all of you here. May our practice and understanding deepen, mistakes be corrected, and hearts sing in tune with the Buddha's wisdom..

In Peace,Christopher(aka, riv:::)

"As Buddhists, we should aim to develop relationships that are not predominated by grasping and clinging. Our relationships should be characterised by the brahmaviharas of metta (loving kindness), mudita (sympathetic joy), karuna (compassion), and upekkha (equanimity)."~post by Ben, Jul 02, 2009

Lovely to see you here, friend. I hope you are well and had a nice New Year's Eve.

Metta,Retro.

"When we transcend one level of truth, the new level becomes what is true for us. The previous one is now false. What one experiences may not be what is experienced by the world in general, but that may well be truer. (Ven. Nanananda)

“I hope, Anuruddha, that you are all living in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing, blending like milk and water, viewing each other with kindly eyes.” (MN 31)

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

"When we transcend one level of truth, the new level becomes what is true for us. The previous one is now false. What one experiences may not be what is experienced by the world in general, but that may well be truer. (Ven. Nanananda)

“I hope, Anuruddha, that you are all living in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing, blending like milk and water, viewing each other with kindly eyes.” (MN 31)

LOL, i just started posting an answer, its a long complicated story that is not very important. In short, i used to be called river on another forum, in the 1990s. I shortened it to riv::: and when i arrived at e-sangha i stuck with that. I guess kinda how you have shortened retrofuturist to retro?

Now i'm going more for the reality television approach, thus my real name, but with a little :::

How about your name, care to elaborate on where that came from?

:^)

"As Buddhists, we should aim to develop relationships that are not predominated by grasping and clinging. Our relationships should be characterised by the brahmaviharas of metta (loving kindness), mudita (sympathetic joy), karuna (compassion), and upekkha (equanimity)."~post by Ben, Jul 02, 2009

Thanks for sharing.... though you do realise that riv::: is longer than river don't you!

As for retrofuturist, I think the name came about in the midst of a whole lot of good underground synth-pop releases on record labels like Ninthwave, A Different Drum, Cohaagen and so on circa 2000-04. Basically the bands on these labels used a lot of old-school sounding keyboard styles to make futuristic sounding synthpop that would have felt nearly just as at home in 2004 as it would have in the 1980's. This movement ran parallel to the more popular 'electroclash' movement that used old school synths and post-punk/new-wave styles and fashions to revitalise dance music during the same period.

Couple with that a big pre-Buddhist interest in reading lots and lots of science fiction... generally old school science fiction of the ilk of Arthur C Clarke, AE Van Vogt, Olaf Stapledon etc. Again, retro texts, with futuristic leanings.

Retrofuturist became Retro. when someone called me that out of laziness, and out of laziness I stopped writing Retrofuturist. In a strange way, it's also come to embody my approach to Buddhism... using the most retro of texts, but learning and discussing them through a futuristic medium.

Metta,Retro.

"When we transcend one level of truth, the new level becomes what is true for us. The previous one is now false. What one experiences may not be what is experienced by the world in general, but that may well be truer. (Ven. Nanananda)

“I hope, Anuruddha, that you are all living in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing, blending like milk and water, viewing each other with kindly eyes.” (MN 31)

Thanks for sharing.... though you do realise that riv::: is longer than river don't you!

LOL, not when spoken.

:^)

Couple with that a big pre-Buddhist interest in reading lots and lots of science fiction... generally old school science fiction of the ilk of Arthur C Clarke, AE Van Vogt, Olaf Stapledon etc. Again, retro texts, with futuristic leanings.

Retrofuturist became Retro. when someone called me that out of laziness, and out of laziness I stopped writing Retrofuturist. In a strange way, it's also come to embody my approach to Buddhism... using the most retro of texts, but learning and discussing them through a futuristic medium.

I also loved sci-fi, though more arthur c clarke, philip dick and robert heinlen. Also short stories, authors names forgotten. Interesting with how you see similarities with your approach. Indeed, i'm more focused in the present, thus the interest in modern teachers like ajahn chah, shunryu suzuki. Also with my art background i am eclectic by nature, tending to enjoy moving around and blending inspirations, like colors on a painting...

:^)

"As Buddhists, we should aim to develop relationships that are not predominated by grasping and clinging. Our relationships should be characterised by the brahmaviharas of metta (loving kindness), mudita (sympathetic joy), karuna (compassion), and upekkha (equanimity)."~post by Ben, Jul 02, 2009

christopher::: wrote:Now i'm going more for the reality television approach, thus my real name, but with a little :::

nice one.

thanks anders. now i just need to find a good old photo like yours for my avatar, lol...

ShinMeiDokuJoh wrote:Hi Chris,

nice to have you here too...

With regardsShinMeiDokuJoh

Same here my friend! Hope all is well. Happy New Year!!

"As Buddhists, we should aim to develop relationships that are not predominated by grasping and clinging. Our relationships should be characterised by the brahmaviharas of metta (loving kindness), mudita (sympathetic joy), karuna (compassion), and upekkha (equanimity)."~post by Ben, Jul 02, 2009